Six Philly cops indicted for kidnapping, extortion, robbery

Six Philadelphia police officers have been arrested on charges - including conspiracy, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, and drug dealing - for a six-year racketeering scheme during which the group netted $500,000 in drugs, cash, and personal property.

The indictment of the officers, formerly part of the city’s
narcotics field unit, comes after a two-year joint investigation
by the FBI, federal prosecutors, and the Philadelphia Police
internal affairs unit, said US Attorney Zane David Memeger.

"I have been a police officer for more than 40 years, and
this is one of the worst cases of corruption that I have ever
heard," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters on
Wednesday.

"Words just don't describe the degree to which their acts
have brought discredit," he added, according to the
Philadelphia Inquirer.

Memeger said the officers were involved in a variety of crimes
between February 2006 and November 2012, including beatings,
threatening to shoot suspects, busting into homes without
warrants to steal drugs and money, and the distribution of
narcotics.

In one instance, the officers allegedly held a drug suspect over
a balcony railing of an 18th-floor apartment during an
interrogation, federal prosecutors said.

In another case, the six officers kidnapped a drug suspect and
held him in a hotel room for days while making threats to his
family.

"The reprehensible conduct alleged to have been committed by
the six charged officers tarnishes the badge held by the
thousands of officers who currently serve -- and have previously
served -- this city with distinction," Memeger said.

Their arrests now cast doubt on dozens of their past cases, and
could reopen a host of civil rights lawsuits from suspects they
arrested. These lawsuits have already cost the city at least
$777,000.

"Our clients have been waiting for this day for some time
now," said Jonathan James, a civil rights lawyer
representing clients in lawsuits against the officers. "They
look forward to the day when these officers are punished by the
very law they hid behind in their efforts to illegally charge our
clients."

The officers often attempted to cover their activities by
falsifying police reports, Memeger said.

Information provided to investigators by former narcotics unit
member Jeffrey Walker was used to build the case against the
rogue officers, Commissioner Ramsey said.

Walker was arrested in May 2013 on charges of robbery extortion,
and committing criminal acts through his position as a police
officer, according to a criminal complaint. He pleaded guilty to
robbery charges and will be sentenced on Nov. 4, according to
Patty Hartman, spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office.

The information provided by Walker led to the removal of the six
officers from the narcotics unit after the district Attorney’s
Office told the commissioner’s office that their testimony could
no longer be used in their cases, Ramsey said. The officers were
not fired at the time in an effort to maintain the integrity of
the ongoing investigation, he added.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the
officers’ previous convictions, it said in a statement.

The officers will be held in custody until trial, Memeger said.

"My client is a good, decent family man, presumed innocent by
law," Jack McMahon, attorney for Officer Reynolds, said
Wednesday. "These are merely accusations by a bunch of
police-hating drug dealers."

If convicted, the six officers face between 40 years and life in
prison, Memeger said.

"That many of the victims were drug dealers, not Boy Scouts,
is irrelevant," said Edward Hanko, head of the FBI's
Philadelphia office. "This corrupt group chose to make their
own rules. Now they will have to answer for it."